One of the most exciting events that often occurs for brides prior to their wedding is the bridal shower. It’s a nice way to get together with friends to celebrate the upcoming big day- and a great method for getting some of the things you’ll need to have after you get married.

What you may not have thought about though, is some things you’ll want to be prepared for prior to your shower. Here are 3 things to do before your bridal shower invitations get sent out.

1.) Make sure you have a finalized wedding guest list before you complete your shower guest list. 

While your wedding is, of course, a separate event, it’s good to know exactly who you plan on inviting to your big day before finalizing your shower guest list. This way you can avoid accidentally inviting people to your shower that won’t be invited to your wedding. Many brides will want to invite more people to their wedding than they realistically have room for, so they end up having to thin out their list (despite perhaps really wanting everyone to come.)

So while you don’t need to necessarily have your wedding invites designed and sent before your shower, it’s good to at least know exactly who will and won’t be invited to the ceremony before you decide who to invite to the shower.

2.) Once you have a guest list for your bridal shower, make sure you have informed the potential guests that you are engaged!

Many brides will invite friends and family to their wedding and shower that they love and have known a long time. However, you may not communicate with all of these individuals on a regular basis, especially if you have a large guest list.

Therefore, it’s good to browse through the list of loved ones you’re inviting and double-check that you’ve already announced your engagement to them. This way you will avoid hurting anyone’s feelings by surprising them with a shower invite when they didn’t even know yet that you’re getting married.

 

3.) Complete any wedding registries before your shower.

If you plan on doing a wedding registry at one or more store (whether online or in person,) you’ll definitely want to do this before your shower invitations get sent out. This way your registry information can be included directly on or with the shower invites.

Informing your shower guests of your registries increases the chances of people using them. This, in turn, will help you to get shower gifts that you need and can actually use. Make sure that any specific registry details are included, such as if there is a registry number and/or any other important info, so guests will be able to look up your registry gift list.

You will want to pass this information on to whoever is planning your shower and/or sending out invitations. Even if your invites are going to be sent electronically, (such as through an app, text, or email,) you will still want to make sure the registry details are included.

In addition to the benefits of getting the gifts you hand-pick on a registry, another bonus of registering is that many stores will offer a discount on the remaining items on your registry for a limited time after your wedding date. So if there are additional items left that you need, but no one purchased, you may be able to save money buying them yourself.

So those are 3 things you should do before your bridal shower invitations get sent. By preparing in advance and working along with the individual(s) hosting your shower, it will be a success. Check out more articles in our blog for additional wedding planning tips!